Theatre review: Man and Boy

So far Indhu Rubasingham's approach to classics at the National has involved a quirky sensibility from her directors to keep things feeling fresh, but with a light enough touch not to frighten Aunt Edna. For the era's first Dorfman show we go to the ever-reliable Terence Rattigan, and a production that takes him out of the naturalistic confines that gave him an undeserved stuffy reputation for many years, but doesn't detract from the cleverness of his writing: The lesser-known Man and Boy takes place in 1930s New York, with the country in the throes of the Great Depression but a few wealthy financiers still having held on to their money. One of them is Gregor "GA" Antonescu (Ben Daniels,) a Romanian radio magnate whose luck might be about to run out: Rumour has it that a huge merger has fallen through, and his stock is plummeting.

GA turns up at the Greenwich Village apartment of Basil Anthony (Laurie Kynaston,) the estranged son who's never had the closest relationship with him, but who finally cut him out of his life and changed his name after discovering some damaging secret about his father five years earlier.

The two awkwardly reconnect as the newspapers and radio bring more rumours of the magnate's upcoming financial collapse, but this isn't a social visit at a difficult time: GA's right-hand man Sven (Nick Fletcher) is there to help prepare for a business meeting, as rival company boss Mark Herries (Malcolm Sinclair) has been invited in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the merger.

It's not that hard to guess that GA's business practices might not always have been entirely above board (the play premiered in 1963 so the references to his dealings with Hitler and Mussolini have the full benefit of hindsight to point to his character,) but the way Rattigan gets to this is a lot more surprising. Man and Boy plays out as a financial thriller where you can't predict what's round the next corner. Especially when we find out why he's chosen his son's flat as the venue for meeting Mark, a twist that takes things into downright creepy territory; before we get to some more genuine emotion as the father and son confront just how bad things have got.

GA's success is largely based on his own personal charm, which he uses to steamroller over any awkward questions, and Anthony Lau's production takes this as a springboard for an expressionistic production that does away with a naturalistic apartment. Instead Georgia Lowe's traverse set has simple office tables and chairs being pushed around and climbed on by the cast to establish dominance, with dance and movement from Aline David twisting their bodies around. Daniels takes GA's Romanian accent as his cue to go full Dracula, charming, manipulating and overbearing his verbal sparring partners. Angus MacRae's music and an illuminated cast list that hangs over the set increase the feel of this being a big 1930s movie.

There's memorable supporting turns from Phoebe Campbell as Basil's bright but easily dazzled girlfriend, Isabella Laughland as the trophy wife whose charitable fund GA has been pilfering from, and Leo Wan as the accountant whose attention to detail caught out some dodgy bookkeeping, but whose personality stands no chance against the financier's abrasive brand of charm. Rattigan was going through his own professional fall from grace by the 1960s, but this example of the work he was coming up with at the time only goes to confirm how undeserved it was.

Man and Boy by Terence Rattigan is booking until the 14th of March at the National Theatre's Dorfman.

Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.